Miniature Books

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Collection des Costumes de la Suisse et de les pays limitrophesZürich Keller et Fussli Full Morocco Very Good N.d., circa 1830. 32mo. 11 by 9.5 cm. 23 hand-colored plates, including title page, with its wreath of alpenrose. Costumes from the cantons and major cities plus the Black Forest. Each illustration features two or three men and women, usually performing some typical craft or activity associated with the area, or ready to do so. In other words, the portraits have some dynamism to them, and with their bright hand-coloring and diminutive scale, richly deserve the adjective of "exquisite". Scarce, with the only copies showing on OCLC First Search at the Koninklijke Bibliotheek of the Netherlands and the Zentralbibliothek of Zurich. Crack along rear joint, with possible partial repair done. Other rubbing along the edges. Plates generally clean. Original tissue guards intact. A neat inked inscription in English on the FFEP dated 1831 and sited to Lucerne.
Price:
675.00 USD

Costumes et Moeurs des Differentes Nations. Ornes de 48 Gravures.Paris Alexis Eymery 1826 First Edition Thus Half Morocco Good Plus 32mo, 8 by 6 cm. 120 pp. The French equivalent of a rare English miniature -- Alfred Mills "Costumes of All Nations". Woodcut plates are simple and even naive but tend to depict people in some kind of activity. Thus there is the free black man making his slave climb a tree, a young "negress" playing ouri, Congolese carrying their cheif on a chaise, South Sea natives in mourning, etc. Leather is heavily rubbed. Cloth boards with scuffs and abrasions. Light occasional foxing and other minor soiling. Some leaves with minor corner creases.
Price:
250.00 USD

Date Book 1932Germany 1931 Near Fine Wonderful sharp and colorful Art Deco design on thin leatherette cover! 64mo. 6 by 4 cm. Unpaginated, 22 leaves (44 pp). Unused, for blank lines for each day of the year, along with info on birthstones and flowers, wedding anniversaries (what each is symbolized by), and on phases of the moon and holidays. But obviously, this is very much about the loveliness of the binding. This particular copy is stamped with the business name, "Perin Drug Store, Monument Square, Dover-Foxcroft, ME", but this was surely sold to businesses to be distributed as a freebie or favor.
Price:
60.00 USD

Demorest's Monthly Magazine: 1866New York W. Jennings Demorest 1866 Wraps Good Near miniature, measuring 3.25 by 2.5 inches, or 8 by 6.5 cm. 39 pp. With two color fashion plates, one showing Mme. Demorest's Mirror of Fashions, with a group of women and an infant in whale-boned gowns, and a second depiction a woman in equestrian costume, and many tiny woodcut illustrations of garments and accessories. Also interesting are the advertisements, including a small one for Steinway & Sons. Demorest's Magazine was like Godey's in its mix of fashion, domestic arts, stories, culture and general interest. Standing out is some emhasis on equestriana and sports suitable for women. With a separate dry goods specialty business (Mms Demorest's Emporium of Fashion), there was cross-fertilization in the web of family enterprises. One music score included herein, for "Song of the Fairies", has music written by WIllamina Vienna J. Demorest the first wife of William Jennings Demorest (1822 - 1895), the patriarch. William spearheaded a tleast five successful magazines, and with his second wife built up a clothing manufacturing and merchandising business. He was also a leader of the prohibition movement and once ran for mayor of New York. The cover has considerable wear and creasing, with a minor corner chip. The leaves within are age toned but mostly clean otherwise.
Price:
185.00 USD

Fan-shaped Calendar for 1899, Compliments of Stickney & Poor Spice Co., Founded 1815Wraps Near Fine Lovely diminutive calendar brochure shaped like a fan, measuring a mere 3.5 by 6 cm, at the widest and tallest, with a ridged edge that emulates the wavy edge of a genuine fan. Seven leaves, including wraps. Promotion on the verso of the front cover, with a page for each month thereafter. Chromo decoration on the front and rear cover, with daisies on the front overlaying the fan trompe d'oeil elements, while the rear is meant to replicate the look of the fan's backing. Typical floral decoration for the period surrounding each month. The interest in this calendar is the novelty in its liliputian dimensions combined with its shape. A few soil marks on the rear. Otherwise, fine.
Price:
50.00 USD

Les Quatre Elémens (Four volumes, housed in a box)Paris Imprimerie de Maulde et Renou First Edition Cartonnage, Reliure Romantique, Glazed, Gilt Embo Near Fine Beautiful Restoration France (Biedermeier era) suite of children's books on the four elements of nature: water, fire, air and earth. N.d., circa 1830. 32mo. 83 by 54 mm each. Each volume is 24 pages and includes two wood engraved hand-colored plates, including one showing a large balloon, another of a volcanic eruption, yet another of fireworks. The white bindings are superb examples of glazed cartonnage Romantique gift book bindings, with their ornate gilt ornamentation. The outer box complements the bindings perfectly, with its gilt sides, with embossed or relief decoration, the raised framed color vignette centerpiece on the lid, the red leather base, etc. Scarce, with OCLC showing six institutional copies only (Morgan, Grolier, UCLA, Indiana, UVA, Oxford), and these copies would appear to lack the box with which they were originally issued, as we have here. (USAF Academy has a copy of the "Air" volume as well.) Gumuchian 4662. Some scattered light foxing. Soiling to the lid of the box, and minor gilt loss on the side. Overall, the box itself is very well-preserved.
Price:
2500.00 USD

Miniature KoranFull Leather Very Good N.d., circa 1900 (?). 35 by 23 mm. 604 pp. The writing is so small, it is challenging to read even with a magnifying glass. In Arabic, with typical ornamentation, in black and white. With a small ring which could have been used to attach the miniature book to a necklace.
Price:
175.00 USD

Miniature Notebook with Bronze Colored Leather and Grecian Frieze Statuary Relief on CoverFull Semi-Rigid Leather Very Good Plus Miniature, measuring 65 by 45 mm, with about 50 blank thick leaves within, and a handsome striped endpaper. It is the faux bronze of the cover, though, that makes this miniature blank book special. The four vertical panels, two on the front, two on the back, depict seraphs playing musical instruments, and the design was inspired by a classic Greek frieze found on architectural structures and vases. The brown leather ties are fragile and have loss; otherwise, a fine diminutive notebook.
Price:
200.00 USD

Murphy's LawsSpartanburg Kitemaug Press 1984 Limited First Edition Cloth (softcover, linen) Fine Statutory pessimism, enshrined in nine irrefutable maxims! No. 114 of 125 copies. 42 by 32 mm. Unpaginated, but each maxim, enumerated with Roman numerals, is given its own page. For those who think Murphy's Law is just "if anything can go wrong, it will" will awaken to these other life lessons or truths.
Price:
40.00 USD

Oktober Fenyei1977 Kossuth Konyvkiado Very Good Plus Miniature book anthology of poetry from around the world glorifying the October Revolution. All poems are rendered in the original language and Hungarian. Here one will find Bertolt Brecht, Carl Sandburg and Pablo Neruda, along with a slew of Russian poets. Also some Communist-era heroic graphics, true to the period. The book measures 5 by 4 cm, and so it is a true miniature. 140 pp. Minor soiling to the spine and boards. Otherwise clean and tight.
Price:
50.00 USD

Petits Souvenirs de la SuisseFull Morocco Leporello, Morocco Slipcase Fine An extraordinary miniature souvenir from Switzerland. 14 panels, each a mere 370 by 250 mm or so, of hand-colored views of Switzlerland, including the Staubbach, Grindelwald Glacier, Wengen, the bridge in Fribourg, the Pont de Diable (Devil's Bridge), Chamouny, Chinon, the Chapel of William Tell. One illustration is rendered twice, of three Bernese maidens, captioned "The Three Graces" in one of the plates. The illustrations are printed and mounted onto card. The captions are not printed, but rather written in ink onto the card leaves. Bound in a thin morocco, with a delicate morocco slipcase with a gilt title.
Price:
1500.00 USD

Sharpe's British Theatre (13 volumes, the first 13, of 18 issued)London John Sharpe 1804 First edition Half Morocco. Marbled paper on boards. Very Good Miniature, or near miniature, 11 by 6.5 cm. Plays include Arthur Murphy's "The Grecian Daughter", "All in the Wrong", T. Southern's "Isabella", Goldsmith's "She Stoops to Conquer", Henry Brooke's "Gustavus Vasa", Arthur Murphy's "The Way to Keep Him", Thomas Otway's "Venice Preserved", Colman and Garrick's "The Clandestine Marriage", Thomas Otway's "The Orphan", Congreve's "Love for Love", Ambrose Philips' "The Distrest Mother", George Farquhar's "The Beaux Strategem", and Dr. Brown's "Barbarossa". While this is not the full set, it is the first 13 volumes of the set, and they are so numbered. Some rubbing to the leather, but overall, an attractive, if incomplete, set.
Price:
300.00 USD

Souvenir des Dames.Paris Chez Marcilly Hardcover. Metal, Mother-of-Pearl. Near Fine Exquisite Regency period mother-of-pearl and gilded metal bound monthly appointment book, with original pencil-like writing implement. N.d., circa 1810. 32mo. 9 by 6.5 cm. 19 leaves, most of which are blank. Each month is labeled in a graceful cursive script, above which is a small engraved vignette. Endpapers in front are a silk moire and surely original. In back, the same is now concealed by several leaves pasted down (we didn't count these leaves). This was a notebook in which whatever was written with the accompanying "pencil" could be easily erased so the leaves could be re-used again and again. The pencil is of a metal, and has a roller-like tip. It is housed in a metal spiral on the side, and when resting there, secures the notebook shut. The mother-of-pearl front cover is framed and secured by the gilded metal on its perimeter. Directly on the front piece of the mother-of-pearl is gilt floral decoration on all sides, with "Souvenir" written with decorative lettering in the center, and a small vignette of a man on a horse below. The rear piece of mother-of-pearl has a floral vignette as a centerpiece. The spine is of gilt metal and along with the rest of the metal, is ornately decorated. The booklet has some interior soiling and light wear on the outside. It remains an extraordinary example of a de luxe lady's notebook.
Price:
650.00 USD

The Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York [Calendar for] 1890New York 1889 First Edition Wraps Very Good Tiny calendar booklet, measuring 6 by 4 cm. 16 pp., plus wraps. One month per page, with delicate chromo vignette atop each month. Memo pages in back. Lovely peacock feather decoration on front and back. Company info and promo is only on inside of wraps. Closed tear along hinge fold. Moderate wear besides.
Price:
65.00 USD

The Riddle Book. For the Use of Children. No. 3.Concord, NH Rufus Merrill 1843 First Edition Presumed Wraps Good Plus Miniature, measuring 3.5 inches, or 9 cm, tall. 8 pp. With yellow wraps featuring ads of "Just Published" on rear. "Come you that love riddles, And guess them so well; Now answer me all these, For I know you can tell." Thus the title declares in this early juvenile children's riddle book, with the riddles in verse. Riddles about a dog, a drum, a kite, a horse, a sheep and a ship, with woodcuts of each. Quite rare, located in only seven libraries according to Worldcat, and at least some of these copies appear to be variants, not identical, to this one. Sweet cameo woodcuts, plus serpent figure on title. Considerable soiling to wraps. Small corner crease. Some rippling to whole. Leaves are age toned. With tiniest of marginal closed tears.
Price:
110.00 USD

The Tiny Book on CocktailsProvidence, Rhode Island Livermore & Knight Co. 1905 First edition Hardcover. Paper pastedown on boards. Very Good Minus Highly unusual, and scarce, miniature cocktail book, measuring a mere 53x43 mm. 74 pp. Recipes for fifty mixed drinks at the turn of the 20th century, and thus a very rare pre-prohibition mixology primer. At the time, cocktails were understood to always contain bitters as an ingredient, differentiating them from other mixed drinks that today would be categorized as cocktails. Some cocktails are unfamiliar to us, such as the "Yale Cocktail". OCLC locates only a single copy, at the University of Virginia. Bookplate of Stanley Marcus, with 'Withdrawn' stamped onto it. Rubbing of the binding, with the some loss of the paper pastedown on the spine, revealing the mull. Tight and clean within.
Price:
1450.00 USD

The Tit-BitPhiladelphia American S. S. Union 1846 First Edition Wraps Very Good 64mo. 6.5 by 5 cm. 64 pp. An vignette illustration on each page, accompanied by a small caption, defining, directly or indirectly, the object, or an aphorism or observation relating to the object. The objects include a shoe, a muff, a spider web, a bird's nest, an old man, a cock, a good child, a fist, an inn, etc. Loosely didactic, yet disarmingly sweet. Relatively scarce, with only five institutional holdings located on OCLC FirstServe. Not in Welsh. See Bradbury, p. 90, #36. Lacks small corner of rear wrap and a corner of front wrap is creased and tender. Blue wraps with evidences of faded title on front cover. The binding is otherwise tight and the pages are clean and fresh.
Price:
225.00 USD